A number of large tech companies are pushing back against US government orders that they not disclose the number of data requests made as part of ongoing investigations, according to court documents unsealed on Friday.

The government gag
orders are related to US intel requests to turn over information
deemed of interest to national security, the details of which
became public through leaks by former National Security Agency
contractor Edward Snowden beginning last year.

The so-called “national security letters” forbid tech
companies from disclosing information regarding the intel
requests. The Snowden leaks made waves among a number of Silicon
Valley heavyweights upon their publication, as they implied to
critics that private customer data was ripe for the taking.

Documents filed in April with the 9th Circuit Court in California
now reveal that Google, Yahoo, Facebook and Microsoft have all
mounted legal challenges to the government’s gag orders, arguing
that they infringe on their First Amendment rights as a form of
prior restraint, reports the Washington Post.

According to the newly unsealed legal records, the tech companies
are pushing for the privilege to disclose “more detailed
aggregate statistics about the volume, scope and type of
[national security letters] that the government uses to demand
information about their users.”

All of the tech companies in question suffered a public relations
headache when the NSA’s data requests became public knowledge,
and it now appears that they are moving to disclose a greater
scope of information to customers in a bid for transparency.

Posting on its blog on Friday, Microsoft noted the
unsealed court information as a “new success in protecting
customer rights,” pointing to the company’s challenge of the
national security letter to protect its “longstanding policy
of notifying enterprise customers if a government requests their
data.”

“The government attempts to sidestep the serious First
Amendment issues raised in this case by arguing that there is no
First Amendment right to disclose information gained from
participation in a secret government investigation," the
companies said in their court filing. "That is
incorrect."

Yahoo has said that it intends to push further against the gag
orders. "The U.S. Government should allow Yahoo and other
tech companies to disclose more about the volume, scope and type
of National Security Letters (NSLs) they receive."

Google echoed the same sentiments to the Post. "We hope the
court recognizes how damaging it can be when laws prevent
companies from being open about government actions that can
infringe on civil liberties.”

Beyond pushing back
against non-disclosure of data requests, tech companies have also
been responding to further NSA intrusion into their proprietary
technology. Microsoft, for example, announced that it will be
rolling out expanded encryption across its services, along with
reinforced legal protections for customer data.

Along with greater
levels of encryption, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo say
they are striving to provide better transparency reports to
customers. The latest unsealed court documents appear to suggest
that Silicon Valley is striving to strike a balance between its
cooperation with government requests and the appearance that they
are complicit in unfettered data collection.